By Nir Boms
EGYPTIAN TROOPS RECENTLY sealed the border with the Gaza Strip, ending 12 days of freedom of movement for Palestinians. The Egyptian troops are still allowing Palestinians and Egyptians to return home, but have stopped--according to recent reports--the free flow of cross-border movement.
It is unclear, however, how many Palestinians made it back to a Hamas-controlled Gaza. Many didn't have an economic incentive to return: Gaza is a place in which approximately 80 percent of the population relies on food aid and the other 20 percent lives mainly on the incomes of civil servants, NGO workers, or international organizations. This was not the case prior to the Hamas era. Following the Hamas takeover, however, and the beginning of the current standoff with Israel, it seems that Gaza is able to manufacture little more than the short-range missiles that continue to barrage the Israeli side of the border. The besieged Hamas government does not appear to be keen on changing that situation. It spends most of its own energy on further escalating the standoff--with some degree of success.
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The Weekly Standard
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